Clifford Chance mulls expansion in Turkey

Clifford Chance is examining its options in Turkey after establishing a toehold in the country, The Lawyer can reveal.

Mete Yegin

Istanbul lawyer Mete Yegin was hired by the magic circle firm in January from local firm Pekin & Pekin to expand business in the country. At the moment the relationship is run mainly out of Clifford Chance Frankfurt.

However, Frankfurt-based Clifford Chance ­partner Nicholas Wong said the firm would not rule out forming a strategic alliance with a local Turkish firm.

“We’re very keen on the Turkish market. We have a huge practice there,” he said. “We work with a number of Turkish firms and have had a longstanding relationship with Mete. He has the local knowledge and helps us make sure we’re working with the very best firms. Mete is an important part of our practice and we feel we have the right capabilities.”

Turkey is considered by a number of City firms to be a market with considerable potential. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is understood to have been interested in the jurisdiction, while Denton Wilde Sapte and White & Case both have associations with local practices.

Turkey is a really interesting market and it looked like the private equity market was about to take off there just before the recession hit. CC could do really well by establishing a decent presence there while things are still quiet. There’s bound to be private equtiy interest once things pick up again and they stand a good chance of making themselves the go-to firm for such deals,

According to Turkish law, foreign law firms are not allowed to open local offices that practise Turkish law. In order to establish a presence on the ground, they need ‘working relationships’ with local firms.

CC has always taken the “long view”. Back in the 90’s they really invested in building their CEE practice eg by sposoring students years before they were going to qualify or even be needed by the firm… just to make sure that they had a pool of local talent available to them as and when needed. This more formal/structured move into Turkey merely cements their position as one of the top finance practices for deals in Turkey. As ever, hats off to them. They will dominate that market just like they have dominated the others.